Daily Devotional • October 17
A Reading from Matthew 11:1-6
1 Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Meditation
In today’s Gospel reading, we encounter John the Baptist in prison. He’s heard about Jesus, and he wants to know whether Jesus is “the one”—that is, the Messiah he has been waiting for. Since he can’t go himself, he sends his disciples to ask Jesus this simple question: Are you the one?
John probably would have preferred a straightforward yes or no. But Jesus doesn’t answer in a straightforward manner, instead asking us to use our minds to collaborate with him as we try to understand. He tells John’s disciples to return bearing witness to what they have seen him do. Give sight to the blind; heal the lame; cleanse the leaper; even raise the dead.
Beyond the obvious implication that this is Jesus’s way of answering “yes, I am the Messiah,” another truth is revealed through Jesus’s amorphous answer. Any time we encounter healing, we are also encountering Christ. Put another way, we can know that God is at work in our lives when we experience any movement from sickness and death toward health and life.
The next time you’re wondering where God is, pay attention to the parts of your life where you’re experiencing growth. Maybe it’s within a difficult relationship that’s suddenly experienced a breakthrough. Maybe it’s finally making peace with a childhood wound. Maybe it’s the uprooting of a seemingly entrenched sin like greed or pride. God is always at work in our hearts, minds, and bodies, and the signs of his work are these encouraging movements toward wholeness.
Elizabeth Hamilton’s writing has appeared in the Dallas Museum of Art, Southern Humanities Review, and Texas Monthly. She has an MFA from Seattle Pacific University. Find her work at elizabethannehamilton.com
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Central Pennsylvania – The Episcopal Church
